


How Would You Know?

by HMSquared



Series: The End of Charles [2]
Category: Henry Stickmin Series (Video Games)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Ambiguous Relationships, Bar Room Brawl, Canonical Character Death, Cruelty, Grief/Mourning, Insults, M/M, Muteness, Past Character Death, Post-Canon, Sexism, Valiant Hero Ending | VC (Henry Stickmin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25805029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMSquared/pseuds/HMSquared
Summary: Henry turns to drinking after the loss of a friend.
Relationships: Henry Stickmin/Charles Calvin
Series: The End of Charles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1871377
Comments: 10
Kudos: 164





	How Would You Know?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys so much for the response on "Hey, I Need To Tell You Something..."! I have never gotten so many comments on a fic in 24 hours. You all made my day.
> 
> I was originally going to make this a stand-alone, but then decided it fit.
> 
> Enjoy!

The mug of half-finished coffee rattled in his hands. Henry shivered, though not from the weather. He was shivering from the substances in his system.

Reaching across the bar, he picked up the whiskey bottle and filled his mug. The brown liquid splashed onto Henry’s hands but did not burn him. He took a shaky sip.

It’d been three months since Charles’ death. There was no body to find, no ashes to bury. They’d taken the headset, resting it on his grave. Maybe Henry would steal it back one day.

He was still a friend to them, surprisingly. Henry suspected it was more out of sympathy than anything else, but he accepted it. He tried to give pointers, leading classes with shaky hands. Galeforce eventually came and told him he needed a break. So now he was here.

The bar door opened. In walked two new recruits, dressed in their military uniforms. They were sweating from the July heat.

He didn’t know their names, and he didn’t care. They were young upstarts who believed the world was theirs. Henry watched them sit down at the other end of the bar.

“Whiskey,” the younger recruit barked. A shot glass slid across the counter; catching it with one hand, he took a sip. “Better than yesterday, sweetheart.” The female bartender wrinkled her nose and started to walk away. “Hey, where you going?” He grabbed her arm, smirking. “My friend here could use one too.”

Henry took a long sip of coffee, trying not to shake. His left hand banged against the bar, causing the two recruits to jump.

“Oh look, it’s Henry.” The younger recruit smirked. His older friend silently drank his whiskey. “You’re that instructor who took down the Toppat clan, right?” Henry could do nothing but nod; his vocal chords were still shot. “Wow, that was quite something.”

“Yeah,” the older recruit muttered. “I heard a lot of people died.” His friend nodded enthusiastically.

“Right! We lost a pilot. Charles, right?” Another nod from Henry. “I’ve heard lots of stories about him.”

“Quite the little idiot, wasn’t he?” They were really testing his patience. The older recruit took another sip of whiskey. “Frankly, he deserved it.”

“And he certainly didn’t deserve someone like you.”

If Henry really cared, he could destroy them in two seconds. He could stab their eyes out with glass from their cups and call it a day. But no, that was too easy. He was going to make them hurt.

He stood up in a flash and grabbed the younger recruit’s shoulders. Henry pulled him back, then drove the man headfirst into the bar. The older recruit jumped to his feet and threw a punch.

It was sloppy. Henry kicked him in the balls and sent him down next to the other recruit. Picking up a bar stool, he slammed it over their heads.

They weren’t dead or dying. Paying for his drinks, the former thief stumbled out into the hot sun.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about Charles. Henry knew exactly what the pilot wanted to tell him. He’d known since the Wall escape. What he didn’t know is if it was mutual.

All Henry knew was that when the station exploded, he understood what Charles had said. He understood that feeling of not being able to breathe.


End file.
